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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 

— 969 — 



THE VARIETIES 



OF THE 



HUMAN SPECIES 



PRINCIPLES AND METHOD 

OF 

CLASSIFICATION 



BY 

GIUSEPPE SERGl 

Professor 0/ Anthropology, Royal University 0/ Rome, Italy 



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CITY OF WASHINGTON 
PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

1894 




Class. 
Book. 



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JMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS V'o '• 38, <i«^^ 

— 969 — 

THE VARIETIES 

OF THE 

HUMAN SPECIES 

PRINCIPLES AND METHOD 

OF 

CLASSIFICATION 



BY 



GIUSEPPE SERGI 

Professor 0/ Anthropology , Royal University 0/ Rome, Italy 




CITY OF WASHINGTON 
PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

1894 



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PRESS OF 

THE FRrEDEXWALD COMPANY, 

BALTIMORE, MD. 



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CONTENTS. 

Part I. — Basis of Human Classification. 
Part II. — Method of Classification. 

I. THE varieties. 
II. THE SUBVARIETIES. 
III. NOMENCLATURE. 



A PREFATORY NOTE. 

Doctor Giuseppe Sergi, professor of Anthropology in the 
Royal University of Rome, Italy, has made for himself a distin- 
guished position by the ardor with which he has pursued the 
branch of science which he represents and the numerous valuable 
contributions he has made to its literature. A brief sketch of his 
career will form an appropriate introduction to the summary of 
his doctrines of craniology which is here translated. ^ 

Dr. Sergi was bom in Messina, Sicily, in 1841. His academic 
education was received in the Universities of Messina and 
Bologna, where he devoted himself especially to the departments 
of comparative anatomy and the philology of the Indo-European 
languages. In 1880 he was appointed to the chair of Anthro- 
pology in the University of Bologna, and four years later to the 
same position in the Faculty of Sciences of the University of 
Rome. In this field he has shown much energy, having by his 
personal exertions founded there the Museum of Anthropology 
and the Laboratory for Experimental Psychology. His lectures 
are attended by a constantly increasing class, and on the organi- 
zation of the Society of Anthropology of Rome he was chosen 
as its first president, which position he still holds. He is also a 
regular, corresponding or honorary member of many learned 
societies in his own and other countries, among which may be 
mentioned in the United States the Anthropological Society of 
Washington, the American Philosophical Society, and the Numis- 
m.atic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia. 

His published works have been very numerous, beginning with 
" Principles of Psychology," in two volumes, issued at Messina in 
1874, and of which a new edition is announced for this year (1894). 
These writings include a wide variety of subjects in physical and 
psychical anthropology and in education. Some are of a popular 
character, but the majority are strictly scientific and have been 

* Le Varieta Umane. Principi e methodo di classificazione. Di Giuseppe 
Sergi. Torino, 1893. 8vo, pp. 60. 



PRE FA TOR Y NO TE. 



issued by learned societies and journals. Of especial note have 
been his studies on the prehistoric peoples of the coasts of the 
Mediterranean; on the native tribes of Melanesia; on human 
degeneration and criminal anthropology; on the characteristics of 
the female sex; and, in American subjects, on the physical anthro- 
pology of the Fuegians, on skulls of the Omaguas, on ancient 
Peruvian skulls, and general considerations on American skulls. 
His attention has been fruitfully attracted to the pigmy races 
of Europe and to the varieties of the human species found in mod- 
em and ancient Russia, especially to the remains exhumed from 
the " kourgans," or ancient sepulchral tumuli, which exist in 
various districts of that state. 

D. G. Brinton. 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 

PRINCIPLES AND METHOD OF 
CLASSIFICATION. 

By Giuseppe Sergi. 



PART FIRST. — Basis of Human Classification. 

I. 

In man, as in other animals, we find physical characteristics of 
two kinds, external and internal. The first are principally those 
pertaining to the cutis and certain cutaneous appendages, and 
include the coloring of the skin and hair, the structure and form 
of the hair, and also the coloring of the eyes. The chief internal 
characteristics are the bones from which the form and figure of all 
the members are taken, as well as those of the separate parts of the 
body clothed with soft tissues, such as muscles and fat. The 
cranium is the most important and most characteristic part of the 
entire human skeleton. 

The cranium is a bony case which encloses a viscus of the first 
order, the brain, which in man is, in relation to the animal series, 
better developed, both in its forms and functions. It is known 
that the brain and cranium, from the embryological to the adult 
state, are in a parallel manner and gradually connected in evolu- 
tion, and the external form of the one corresponds to that of 
the other. Most certainly it is not the cranium which gives form 
to the brain of man; It is more probable that it is the brain 
which moulds its organ of protection. Given hereditary condi- 
tions, we may affirm that the form of the cranium is correlative to 
that of the brain. If we could discover why the brain takes or 
has taken different forms we would possibly understand better its 
corespondence with the exterior structure of the cranium by which 
it is surrounded, though absolutely ignorant now. We might be 



8 THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 

able to leaiTi also what functional and especially what psychologi- 
cal characteristics are united to the cerebral forms which are 
revealed by cranial forms. All that is obscure for us, and also 
unexplored, because unsuspected; for in place of that, and in an 
inexact manner, the volume has been taken into account and 
therefore the weight of the brain, as being the only means of mak- 
ing an anthropological diagnosis of its functional value, the 
volume and weight corresponding to the capacity of the cranium. 

But besides the cranium commonly called cerebral, there is the 
face, which, from the morphologic point of view, is not less impor- 
tant. The face has generally given more positive means for dis- 
tinguishing human groups, not only on account of the coloring 
of the skin, but on account of the form and disposition of its parts, 
of the nose, of the cheeks, of the molar teeth, and on account of 
other characteristics which, when considered together, disclose 
differences not immediately revealed by the cerebral cranium. 

The other parts of the skeleton also have differences more or 
less profound in the different ethnic groups, the stature, the length 
of the extremities, both absolutely and relatively to the stature 
and to the trunk; the thoracic form; and so on. But such differ- 
ences seem little characteristic compared to those presented by the 
cranium and the face; until now, moreover, they have had but 
slight value, as should have those characteristics of classification 
which are merely secondary. 

We are ignorant what may have been the primitive type or the 
primitive human types, considered in all their internal and external 
characteristics; that is, what skeletal forms certain ethnic groups 
of differently colored skin possessed; or, on the other hand, what 
color of skin and hair belonged to certain skeletal forms. That 
difficulty is caused by a fact easy to understand, by the mingling 
of different types among each other, and by the hybrid forms 
from which man is derived. It is true, however, that certain 
hybrid results seem to be limited to certain regions and to a few 
human groups; and that, on account of this, the elements which 
have furnished such products may be learned up to a certain 
point; but in the beginning, at least, it will be necessary to learn 
the structures of the parts from which hybrids are derived. 

It is impossible not to admit human hybridism, since it is 
demonstrated clearly by all anthropologists; in this direction. 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 9 

America alone shows us a perfect example of experimental anthro- 
pology. It is now determined from observations that human 
hybridism is multiform among ?11 peoples; but what we learn 
from that example is the exchange of external characteristics and 
their mixture with those internal, that is, the union of the external 
characteristics of one ethnic type with the internal characteristics 
of another type. Thus, one may observe the color of the skin and 
hair with its special form united to characteristics of skeletons 
which do not generally belong to types of that color, and vice 
versa. That may be observed concerning certain characteristics, 
and not of all; such as the stature, or the face, with its soft cover- 
ing, or the form of the cranium only. 

If we study our European populations which are called white, 
but which have many gradations of whiteness, we may note the 
great mixture of characteristics, a mixture which is changeable, 
from which results a great variety of forms of individual types, 
constituted of characteristics differing from each other. An 
analysis must be very accurate and very minute to discriminate 
these different elements which exist in the composition of the 
ethnic characteristics of individuals and peoples. These mixtures 
and these combinations of characteristics differ according to the 
character and number of elements existing in the various nations 
of the south, the center, or the north of Europe. They arise 
from different relations with mixed peoples. 

What is most important in this human hybridism, so various 
and so complex, is the lack of the blending of the external and 
internal characteristics from which new human varieties may be 
had. Among the different ethnic elements there exists only a 
relation of position, called syncretism, or propinquity of charac- 
teristics, and therefore a facility for forming small groups. Such 
a phenomenon has already been recognized in America, and it is 
evident in Europe among peoples who appear little homogeneous, 
if a careful observation separates the characteristics constituting 
ethnic types and those of individuals in a mixed population. 

If there were no other cause for such an absence of blending 
among the characteristics of human hybridism, this cause would 
exist, that the relations which produce the mixtures are not equal 
and constant, but are varied and inconstant. If there should be 
the union of two pure ethnic types only, for several generations. 



10 THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 

we should be able to derive a hybrid product constant and fixed, 
as among animals and plants; but a third element, either pure or 
mixed, arrives in the second or third generation of man, and so on 
indefinitely. Thus it is easy to understand how unstable must be 
the characteristics of the hybrid, for they can scarcely survive in 
one individual for a generation. The hybrids which follow may 
have characteristics of different types, with the tendency each 
time to have these reappear by heredity, although not blended and 
not fixed in the individual. 

To this should be added another fact, that of individual variation, 
which is present in man, as in other animals, increased by his con- 
stant interminglings, which may be considered stimulants of this 
phenomenon, as has been suggested by Darwin and Wallace. 

Hence, I conclude from mv observations, that human hvbridism 
is a syncretism of characteristics belonging to many varieties, and 
that these do not modify the skeletal forms as do individual varia- 
tions, and that hybridism may affect different parts of the skeleton, 
constituting characteristics in themselves distinct. The stature, 
the thoracic form, the proportion of the long bones, may be united 
with external characteristics differing from each other, as well as 
from different cranial structures. The cranial form may be asso- 
ciated with different facial forms, and inversely. It happens, how- 
ever, that the structures taken separately remain in part unvaried 
in the hybrid constitution. The face preserves its own character- 
istics in spite of the union of different cranial forms; so also the 
cranium preserves its structures, associating them with different 
facial forms. The stature preserves its own proportions in spite 
of its association with different cranial and facial types, and in 
spite of the different coloration of the skin and the form and color 
of the hair. All this may be affirmed, particularly of much larger 
human groups which, according to external characteristics, may 
be considered much* nearer than they really are in geographical 
position, as the so-called white races in Europe, the negroes in 
Africa, in Melanesia, and so on. 

Now, granting that all peoples exhibit the characteristics of 
hybridism in the manner just described, it will be necessary to 
learn how races, groups and human families may be classified. 
Let us observe for a moment the classification by means of exter- 
nal characteristics, most common among anthropologists from 
Linnaeus to Ouatrefages and Flower, and we shall see: 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. II 

i). That the color of the human skin in one great group of a 
type, such as yellow, black, or white, is of different gradations and 
not uniform. 

2). Since, as above stated, all peoples, at least in a great measure, 
are composed of hybrid elements, it happens that different ele- 
ments are united under one category, which is, in this instance, 
the color of the skin. 

3). We must not forget that the external characteristics are more 
easily lost, and much easier to acquire, by intermixture and 
heredity. 

A curious example of what I state is found in human classifica- 
tion according to Quatrefages, which perhaps is now the most 
complete, considered only as a classification by external character- 
istics. He places the Abyssinians within the white race notwith- 
standing that they have the negro coloring, and he does so 
because he believes that the characteristic form of the skeleton or 
internal characteristics of the Abyssinians are those of the white 
race. This is without doubt inconsistent when the principle of 
classification by color is accepted. This inconsistency itself shows 
the defect of the method and of the principles mentioned as 
applied to human characteristics and their combination. 

4). Finally, as we perceive, the theory is not justified that man 
be classified as a single species with three, five or more variations. 

If the characteristics which present greater stability are internal 
or skeletal, they should serve for human classification: 

1st. Because, notwithstanding amalgamation and consequent 
hybridism, the characteristics originating in the skeleton are per- 
sistent. 

2d. Because they may be taken as fixed points with which other 
characteristics may be associated, and may be also external, as I 
shall demonstrate. 

3d. Because, finally, the internal characteristics can demonstrate 
the full number of divisions and subdivisions in classifying ethnic 
groups, and in analyzing peoples which are a combination of a 
great number of hybrids. 

It remains to determine which internal characteristics should 
have the preference in deciding the value of types for classifica- 
tion. If we consider the human skeleton, with that object in view, 
we find three parts which may serve for that purpose, the cerebral 
cranium, the face, and the stature, with the long bones. 



12 THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 

Stature. — The stature is a good, but an insufficient characteristic, 
because it gives only linear differences, and in its value resembles 
greatly other external characteristics, and is associated with all the 
most dissimilar derived from the skeleton. 

Face. — The face offers very important characteristics for classi- 
fication, because it shows typical differences in the ethnic groups. 
The face has given more points for the distinction of human types 
than the other parts of the human body, and would appear better 
adapted for that purpose than the cerebral cranium. But the face 
is more disposed to individual variations than any other part, 
because it is very complex, being composed of numerous small 
bones, clothed with muscles which have continuous and important 
functions relating to the physiognomy, to the expression of psychi- 
cal conditions, and to the nutritive functions. These facts render 
its typical form less constant, and are, or may be, the cause of a 
multiplication of types. 

Cranium. — The cerebral cranium is itself also liable to varia- 
tions. More than any other organ, it exhibits -a phenomenon 
often observed and clearly demonstrated by me, that is, the per- 
sistence of forms from immemorial epochs, and their reproduction 
through numerous generations notwithstanding amalgamation 
with other types. I have demonstrated such a persistence of 
cranial forms in the varieties of the Mediterranean from the Neo- 
lithic and from the most ancient Egyptian epochs; other anthro- 
pologists have recognized such persistence in European types of 
the Quaternary epoch, and in others, very ancient, from America. 
This cannot be said of the structure of the face. 

Therefore if the human cranium is accepted as the basis for the 
classification of human groups, positive results may be had: 

1st. In groups which have been subjected to mixture in what- 
ever epoch or however many times, the distinctive ethnic elements 
may be discerned by examining the cerebral cranium only, which, 
remaining unaltered in type^ may be found united by hybridism 
with other internal and external characteristics. For the cranium 
is the point about which revolve all other variations of form, either 
in hybridism or in the human form itself. 

2d. Knowing the cranial types of a people who seem more or 
less homogeneous, we are sure of learning of what and how many 
ethnic elements it is composed, notwithstanding the hybridism, 
present. 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 1 3 

3d. Having classified all the cranial types in different regions 
and among different peoples, we may learn by their geographical 
distribution the numerical extension of types and also their 
geographical origin; that is, the place of departure and the course 
of emigration and dispersion of such forms. 

4th. Then it will be easy to learn what cranial characteristics 
are found among populations which already have ethnic names, 
ancient and m^odern, and to discover among them points of simi- 
larity and difference. 

Being, therefore, obliged on acount of universal human hybrid- 
ism to select as a guide to classification the most important and 
the most useful of the internal characteristics, we find greater 
advantages in choosing the human cranium, about which all the 
other characteristics, internal and external, are grouped. If we 
select one characteristic, or a number of variable characteristics, 
we shall find ourselves in the same position as other anthropolo- 
gists who classify by external or accessory traits. It follows that 
accepting the cranium as the principal internal characteristic, we 
impliedly accept the brain in its various forms, and the brain is the 
most important of human organs. 



11. 

The classification of man by means of the cranium alone is by no 
means new. It will be well to consider these schemes, from that 
of Retzius down to the last, that of Kollmann. Nor, indeed, is 
the conception of the importance and superiority of the cranium 
for distinguishing ethnic groups by any means recent. To show 
that, we have but to refer to the enormous work which has been 
done, from Morton to Davis and Thurman, from Broca to G. 
Retzius, to De Quatrefages, to von Holder, to Ecker, to His and 
Rutimeyer, to Virchow, to Ranke, to others still more numerous, 
in Italy, from Nicolucci to Alantegazza. 

Notwithstanding so much labor expended on the human cra- 
nium, satisfactory results were not reached, nor, indeed, I may 
affirm, have we yet reached them, at least not in the signification 
which I intend these results to have. The fault lies in the nature 
of the method of studying the human cranium and in the value 
attributed to craniometiy. 



14 THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 

The classification of Retzius is based upon a single characteristic 
of the cranium, which, however, is merely the numerical expres- 
sion of the norma verticalis of Blumenbach, that is, the cephalic 
index. 

According to Retzius we have only two forms of crania, the long 
and short; though, in fact, many forms of short and long crania 
are found dififering very much from each other. 

When craniometry was developed in a systematic manner, fol- 
lowing principally the work of Broca, it appeared the key of 
anthropology, and took the first place among means of investi- 
gations, as being the most effectual method for distinguishing 
human races. The French exaggerated its value; the Italians 
followed with zeal, in spite of the skepticism of Mantegazza, the 
head of the Florentine school of anthropology; the Germ^ans 
have been more rational, and with them the Swiss, represented by 
His and Rutimeyer. At the head of them I would place Blumen- 
bach, who based his small but valuable book upon a rational foun- 
dation.^ The Germans try to establish cranial type almost or 
entirely independent of the cephalic index; as one may see from 
the works of von Holder, of Ecker, of His and Rutimeyer, of 
Virchow, of Kollmann, of Ranke and others. In my opinion the 
German method is an approximation to the truth, but unfortunately 
the conception of type is undeveloped and, I should say, has 
remained rudimental, because craniometry, like a pernicious weed 
among the grain, injures the harvest. Virchow, the most pro- 
nounced scholar in anthropology, and the man who has studied 
more than all others the crania of all peoples, believes that the 
germ of a sound anthropology should develop from it. He con- 
cedes only a secondary value to craniometry; but, nevertheless, in 
his last work, precisely when he distinguishes types, attempting 
to establish them definitely, he determines them by craniometry 
alone. In fact, in his great work, Crania Ethnica Americana, 
he defines types in this manner: " Die Form ist long, schmal und 
relativ hoch," or, " Die Form des Schadels ist hypsi-brachycephal " 
and gives the index and the measures. Now the reader who will 
observe that the Araucanians, the Pampeans, the Chilians of 
Huanilla and of Copiapo, and the Peruvians of Iquique, have the 

"^ De generis humani varietate nativa. Ilia edit. Gottingen, 1795. 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 1 5 

hypsi-brachycephalic form of cranium, will not understand why the 
illustrious author constitutes of them different types, defining 
them always with the often-repeated proposition, " Die Form des 
Schadels ist hypsi-brachycephal." That the forms of such crania 
differ is evident from the fine lithographs, and not from the 
description^ much less from the definition. Why has the cele- 
brated anthropologist stopped on the way and has not developed 
the idea already promulgated by him and by his compatriots? 
I find in the Crania Helvetica and in the Crania Germanica of von 
Holder and of Ecker that the conception of type is more evident 
and has also a nomenclature, which is the only means of distin- 
guishing typical forms. 

According to my observations upon craniometrs^, which has now 
become cabalistic, especially in France, on account of the abuse 
of measures and numerical ciphers, the indices of the cranium and 
face are taken as a means of distinguishing races, human groups, 
as we might call them, and other measures are either omitted or 
applied only to individuals. In order to be convinced we should 
carefully and conscientiously study the cranio metrical works of 
Dr. Danielli, of Florence, upon the Nias and Bengalese. The 
author has not been able to find satisfactory results after persever- 
ing researches, but whoever would seek evidence of individual 
variations will find more than enough. It seems to me, therefore, 
that the method by measurement may serve this purpose, that is, 
to discover numerically individual differences, but never those 
typical of a race. But such a discovery is useless, since we are all 
convinced of the existence of individual differences. I will there- 
fore add that such differences, to be valuable, must be sought, not 
among forms differing from each other, but among individuals of 
the same type. That implies, therefore, necessarily and always, 
the search for types and their distinction, which is not possible by 
means of the craniometrical method. 

Craniometry considers two forms, with a third of transition : the 
cranium long, and relatively narrow; the cranium wide, and rela- 
tively short, that is, dolicho- and brachycephalic, the form between 
which is mesocephalic. These forms, as I have said, are expres- 
sions of the normal line of Blumenbach, but imperfect, inexact 
and insufficient, as a brief demonstration will show. 



i6 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



B 


A 


TV 


r 


r" 


n 


n' 


p 


K' 


V 


F' 




A 





Fig. 1. 



Let AA' be the antero-posterior diameter of a cranium, BB' 
the greatest transverse; it is evident that, given the norma verti- 
cahs with such diameters and with the greatest transverse at the 
conjunction of the Hne BB', this norma verticahs takes a particu- 
lar form on account of the curves which surround the two diame- 
ters. This Hne or curve, which surrounds them, is called X. If 
the greatest transverse is placed back and is made to coincide with 
the line CC, the curve will be modified and will no longer be X 
but Y. That will be equally true if the transverse diameter is 
placed still further back at DD', EE', FF'; then we shall have a 
third curve Z, a fourth, a fifth, Uy that is, we shall have as many 
different vertical curves on account of the changing of the diame- 
ter of the width, as the index causes ; that is, the relation between 
the length and the width will be the same. 

From this it may be judged how much more will the norma 
verticalis vary if the form of the curve circumscribing the two 
diameters be modified in other ways, that is, by the frontal width, 
by the occipital form, and so on. If we also add the lateral curves, 
those posterior and anterior, which serve to show the form of this 
irregular body, we shall easily be convinced that the cephalic and 
vertical index cannot give the cranial form. That is why I have 
above stated that the expression of Virchow, "The form of the 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 1/ 

cranium is hypsi-brachycephalic/' is insufficient to define the 
form. While cranial types so defined have equal indices, their 
curves differ in degree, and therefore the skull may or not be 
hypsi-brachycephalic. It is just as if we attempt to calculate the 
size of an ellipsis by means of the relation of its two axes. Two 
ellipses equal in this relation may be unequal in size, and this is 
why these two relations cannot be compared. It is the same in 
regard to the cephalic and vertical indices of the cranium. 

If it were true and there were no doubt respecting the value of 
the celebrated cephalic index in determining cranial forms, it 
would follow that all human crania of whatever type and volume 
should be placed in the three categories of dolicho-, meso-, and 
brachycephalic, or of hypsi-, ortho-, and chamaecephalic. Thus 
all the populations of the earth, either of white, yellow, black or 
red skin, would have crania belonging to the three categories. A 
classification solely according to the cephalic index is therefore an 
absurdity. It is incoherent and without meaning, as are those of 
Retzius and Kollmann. 

This conclusion is so true that such anthropologists are obliged 
to add descriptions to the forms of each part of the cranium, in 
order to distinguish it, recognizing the insufficiency of cranial 
data. Such descriptions can, to a certain degree only, supply the 
defect of the method, but they always remain incomplete, and 
leave the forms or types of the human cranium of various popu- 
lations and regions indefinite. The French school has gone still 
farther and has supplied the deficiency with an infinite number 
of measurements, which only increase the obscurity, leaving the 
conception of the form more uncertain, and fatiguing the most 
patient student, who becomes convinced of never reaching any 
satisfactory result from such a confused accumulation of numbers. 

In order to render classification more definite, or for the sake 
of finding a second characteristic which might be associated with 
the cephalic index, Retzius turned his attention to the prognath- 
ism and the orthognathism of the molar teeth; Kollmann to the 
facial index. Use could be made of the nasal index instead of the 
facial, or the orbital index, or any isolated characteristic, and we 
should have the same results. The combinations given by Ret- 
zius and Kollmann are possible, but cannot indicate races or varie- 
ties, from the fact that they are hybrid associations. 



1 8 THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 

I need not make a longer demonstration of what I have affirmed, 
that classifications of human groups have been attempted by 
means of the cerebral cranium, but have not been successful on 
account of deficiency of method; and that the craniometrical 
method, still so undeveloped, has not yet, nor cannot, give those 
results while there is an exaggeration of an exact principle, that of 
expressing numerically facts relating to the cranium. It seems to 
me, after several years of study, and after having adopted the 
accepted form of craniometry, for want of a better, that it is time 
to establish for our use and for the study of the variations of man, 
a natural method, resembling that which is used in zoology and 
botany, and of which I laid the foundation about two years ago. 



III. 

The human cranium presents two kinds of variations: the first 
are those which change their general form and present types differ- 
ing from each other; the second are those which do not change 
their typical form. The first have stable characteristics, therefore 
hereditary, and which passing through many generations remain 
unaltered and persistent; the second are the variations of the indi- 
viduals of a type, and, of course, being transitory, do not in any 
way alter the typical forms ; they are the so-called " individual " 
variations. 

There is no need of recapitulating the facts which relate to varia- 
tions in the human cranium, nor of seeking their causes,, since the 
investigations of Darwin, Wallace and others concerning the 
variability of organisms, well known to all students of biology. 
I would simply state that the various phenomena of variation are 
repeated in man, and, for the case in point, in the human cranium. 

The relation which exists between the t\yo kinds of variations 
is close, and it is possible to admit that individual variations have 
given origin to permanent variations, just as it is easy to accept the 
idea that the process of variation in animals and in man in the 
cranium and the brain is continuous and constant. However 
that may be, an observer accustomed to large and small series of 
human heads perceives immediately that such series may be 
divided into groups, different and distinct, according to the form 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 1 9 

of the cranium itself, and that some difference, often difficult to 
describe or explain, exists among the elements of the groups; 
and this difference is derived precisely from the individual varia- 
tions of the groups themselves. While the character of individual 
variations is transitory, the character of those which give typical 
forms is permanent; their persistence consists in being hereditar)'' 
and numerous in each generation. 

We know that the so-called " species " of the animal kingdom 
have forms derived from some variations of characteristics, and 
that they are such because the variations from the mother-species 
are permanent and become transmitted by heredity. These 
forms may be called " varieties " of the " species," or races, accord- 
ing to some, or subspecies, according to others. We will call 
them " varieties," because the name indicates their immediate 
origin. According to Darwin, a variety is a species in the process 
of formation, because it still bears many characteristics of the 
species from which it is derived, and cannot become an inde- 
pendent form, like the species itself, until it acquires still more 
diverging characteristics. 

If we apply this principle to the human cranium, we should 
first learn if man comprises a single species, as many anthropo- 
logists believe, or has many species. In the first case, the typical 
variations of the cranium would certainly be varieties ; if, however, 
there are several human species, the problem becomes more com- 
plicated. In that case the varieties might be of one species, and 
a primitive type be found to which it is allied. But if of such 
primitive types there were several, these would form several 
species which should be grouped under one genus. 

I cannot venture the solution of the general question regarding 
the unity or plurality of the human species, considering the actual 
state of my personal observations, limited to Southern Europe, 
especially the Mediterranean, to Oriental Europe, and to the 
Kourgans of Russia. I should examine Asia, Africa, Oceanica, 
America, Central and Northern Europe, before being able to give 
an opinion on such a problem. I will call therefore varieties only, 
human varieties, the typical forms of the cranium which are 
clearly distinguished from each other by their own and diverging 
characteristics, while I will suppose that such varieties may con- 
verge in different species, of which I cannot now give the type 



20 TH^ VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 

nor characteristics. Meanwhile it is useful to know and describe 
the " varieties " under this name, with the purpose of learning their 
distribution in the various regions of the earth. 

With the present uncertainty about human varieties, I could 
have no intention of publishing a work which would treat of gen- 
eral theories, nor would I have thought of the present pamphlet 
had not necessity demanded it. This essay is ouly designed to give 
direction to the method of research, because many students have 
requested it, and in order to place before the public ideas and 
facts which others either misunderstand or condemn without 
knowing them. 

Calling the typical forms of the cranium " varieties," we have 
the advantage of finding the differences or individual variations 
of the same type, and also certain differences which cannot be 
reduced to individual variations, but which are equally repeated 
as diverging characteristics of the same variety: these constitute 
subordinate groups or " subvarieties." The " sub variety " there- 
fore diverges from the " variety " by a new characteristic which it 
retains in a persistent manner. We have an easy means of recog- 
nizing varieties and subvarieties, and of distinguishing them 
from individual variations. The latter are not repeated, or if there 
is repetition it is accidental; varieties are repeated by groups 
more or less large, which, in addition, have individual variations; 
the subvarieties also repeat in lesser groups that characteristic or 
those characteristics of the variety from which they are derived. 

One of the difficulties of craniologists is how to find the limits 
of individual variations, how to distinguish them from typical 
forms, or to admit that all cranial variations may be individual, 
especially if one population is studied without reflecting that any 
population is invariably a composition of many varieties, notwith- 
standing the misleading appearance of the external form and the 
exterior characteristics. We can clearly and easily distinguish by 
my method the individual variations from the true and constant 
varieties and from the subvarieties, and we can make a complete 
analysis of populations, as I have had numerous occasions to 
demonstrate. 

Another prejudice of anthropologists is that human varieties, 
determined by my method, may be too numerous. The scientist 
cannot, indeed, free himself of certain sentiments which are 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 21 

acquired in following scientific habits and which have become a 
part of science and public opinion, because in face of the danger 
of seeing human varieties doubled or decupled, he feels an aver- 
sion, like an instinct of preservation for that which is established 
and which has become the belief of most scientists and cultivated 
men. The human races until now have been either three, four or 
fi\e, but never six; the first time it is affirmed that they may be 
twenty, opposition is inevitable; it is the misoneism of Lombroso, 
the inertia of the mind, which opposes such resistance, just as 
matter is opposed to every change in the direction of its forces. 
Treating of man, into which we ourselves enter with our senti- 
ments, the opposition is greater, even in spite of good intentions. 
Notwithstanding this psychological phenomenon which influences 
us all, the force of facts is superior to every inertia and sooner or 
later will conquer. 

With the observations and the methods which I propose, I 
believe that many errors will be eliminated from anthropology. 
Those errors have been accepted because we have never pos- 
sessed natural scientific methods for the study of human classifi- 
cation, such as we have in zoology. To apply zoological methods 
to man appeared to lower him to his congenerous beings; and, 
while in zoology, science advances freely, in anthropolog}^, on the 
other hand, preoccupations embarrass researches. I observe that 
such preoccupations do not exist in two very eminent anthro- 
pologists, although the contrary at first appears evident in one of 
them — Blumenbach and De Quatrefages — at least a century apart. 
Blumenbach, in a valuable little book, attempts to apply the 
zoological method to man, not only for classification, but for the 
explanation of the causes of animal and human varieties. De 
Quatrefages, in his last work, employs the same method and the 
same scientific freedom. Unfortunately the followers or succes- 
sors of both have only followed their masters in form, but not in 
method. Blumenbach, who, after various researches, reduces the 
human species to five varieties, finds, however, that human varia- 
tions are infinite in number. If his method had been followed 
strictly, the number of human varieties would long ago have been 
increased, both in respect to the structure and the cranial forms. 

The neglect of such methods and the failure to distinguish 
human varieties by means of the cranium has caused a curious 



22 THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 

error, that of regarding certain forms which are typically normal, 
as pathological, as I shall have occasion to demonstrate in the 
future when I speak of classified forms. This is apt to happen 
when new and unrecognized forms are placed before the observer. 

One of the important characteristics in classifying the cranial 
varieties of man is the cranial capacity^ which has a direct relation 
to the volume and weight of the brain; hence classification by 
crania means the classification of brains estimated by their form 
and external configuration. Its importance is for us increased by 
the fact that that which we find among races of animals occurs 
also in man; that there are races of small and large animals, races 
differing in size. This is also repeated in man, and we therefore 
have large, medium and small varieties, as measured by stature. 
The origin of such varieties is perfectly analogous to that in other 
animals. Nor is it an accidental phenomenon, because it is con- 
firmed by heredity, through numerous and indefinite generations. 

I have concluded, in studying cranial varieties morphologically 
as human varieties, that is, by their characteristic structures, that 
the volume has a direct relation to the form, that is, many forms 
have limited and definite capacities, while other forms have sub- 
varieties differing in capacity. Such varieties are analogous to 
the stature of the large and small varieties of animals. The 
cranial capacity, therefore, while it is one of the integral character- 
istics of the cranium in regard to its classification, is also the indi- 
cation of different varieties according to size. I discovered this 
fact when I classified for the first time the crania of Melanesia, and 
subsequently I defined it more accurately when I examined and 
classified thousands of other human crania. 

This fact points to a correction of the value of cranial capacity 
and therefore of the weight of the brain, until now calculated by 
the average without distinction among different varieties. The 
cranial capacity of man varies from looo cc. to about 2000 cc. in 
the masculine sex; this enormous difference is admitted as indi- 
vidual variation, and it is thus conceded that there may be a least 
limit of normality possible which can be ascribed to the function of 
the brain, crania which descend to 1 1 50 cc. being considered as 
pathological microcephali, according to Broca, and more or less 
according to other anthropologists; giving, on the other hand, a 
great value to a large capacity. Both conclusions are contrary to 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 23 

the real significance of the facts. I have found normal masculine 
capacities of 1000 cc. and a little greater, representing small human 
varieties, not being sporadic and individual phenomena; and, on 
the other hand, anthropologists have registered for eminent men 
like Dante, Gauss and others, very mediocre capacities, even very- 
low, while for ordinar}' men they have recorded a much higher 
capacit}'. I have found in ^lelanesia normally constituted heads 
absolutely microcephalic, together with megalocephalic heads, 
belonging to varieties which have the same social value; they are 
both inferior, some anthropophagous, and live mixed together as 
one people. That which I have , asserted concerning ^Melanesia 
may be said of the ancient and modern populations of the Medi- 
terranean, among which are the Sicilians, the Sardinians, and the, 
inhabitants of Central and Southern Italy; and I do not believe it 
can be said that there are no signs of human superiorit}" in those 
regions. There are not, therefore, individual differences so great" 
as from iodo to 1500 cc, and from 1500 to 2000 cc, but character- 
istic differences of variet}' in human forms. The general average 
I therefore maintain is inexact and still further arbitrar\', because 
it is the average of incommensurate quantities. The exact 
average is that between individuals of the same variety, and the 
difference is the true individual variation. 

But there is another error to correct due to the signification 
which I am able to give to varieties distinguished by means of my 
method. It is considered by some a demonstrated fact that the 
cranial capacit}^ has been increased in the course of social evolu- 
tion from prehistoric epochs to historic times. Eminent men have 
affirmed it, but I have already placed their conclusions in doubt, 
because the facts do not appear to me evident and affirmative. I 
wrote some years ago:^ "The most important physical evolution 
of man would be that which related to the organ of the mental 
functions, the brain. But the facts are still ver\- doubtful and very 
obscure which relate to the weight and volume of the brain, and 
consequently to the cranial capacity. In a recent work of Pro- 
fessor Schmidt I find that the cranial capacity of the ancient pure 
Egv-ptians is 1394 cc in the masculine and 1257 in the feminine 
sex; in the pure modern Egyptians it is 1421 in the males, 1206 in 



"^ Human Evolution. Review of Scientific Philosophy, 1888, Milan. 



24 THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 

the females. According to these figures there would be an 
increase of the cranial capacity of the modern over the ancient 
males, but a decrease in the females. The reverse would be true 
of the Egypto-Nubian cranium, which is 1335 in the modern 
males and 1205.8 in the females. Broca found that the Egyptians 
of the IV. Dynasty had, males 1534, females 1397 cc; those of the 
XL, males 1443, females 1328; and, finally, those of the XXIIL, 
the most recent, males 1464, females 1322. There would be in 
such a case no increase, but decrease, but that is not possible; the 
cause of these facts lies in the mixtures of races at different times 
and in different proportions.'^ 

Now I conclude from my recent studies upon the Egyptians of 
different dynasties, from the most ancient to the present, that 
according to my method of classification there are capacities of 
1260 cc, of 1390, of 1480, of 1550, of 1710, and still other capa- 
cities differing according to the varieties determined.^ As is 
easily understood, a general average necessarily alters the facts, 
according to the number of varieties which enter as components 
of the average in the different series in anthropological museums ; 
hence the curious results above indicated. 

Another important point is as follows: 

" But the fact which surprises us is the high figure of the capa- 
city given by prehistoric crania. The masculine crania of Lozere 
have given 1606 cc, the feminine 1507; also of Lozere, masculine 
1578, feminine 1473; crania from the pietra levigaia, masculine 
1 53 1, feminine 1320; the contemporaneous Parisians, masculine 
1559, feminine 1337. The approximate average of crania from 
the pietra levigata is 1 560, equal to that of modem Europeans, as 
is related by Topinard.""^ 

In another of my recent works I have demonstrated that of the 
crania of the neolithic age^ the Isobathyplatycephalus has a capa- 
city from 1230 to 1405 in the feminine, and the Eucampylos varies 
from 1470 to 1564 in the masculine. The two varieties, still per- 
sistent in Sicily, do not vary in capacity in the modern series, and 
at the same time show that in the neolithic epochs, as among 

' Concerning the Primitive Inhabitants of the Mediterranean, Archives of 
Anthropology, Florence, 1892, Vol. XXII. 

2 See Human Evolution. 

' Crania of the Neolithic Age^ Boll. Paletnol. Italiana, Parma, 1892. 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 2$ 

modern populations, large and small varieties are found, just as 
the same types are now found through persistence of forms. 

From this it is evident how much there is to reform in anthro- 
pology when we study by natural methods facts until the present 
misinterpreted, respecting the classification as well as the physical 
and psychological characteristics of man in time and space. Per- 
haps in the future, when we know all cranial forms by natural 
classification, it will be possible to find a correspondence of psy- 
chological characteristics in populations according to the pre- 
dominance or superiority of types, a fact which has until now 
escaped research, because the capacity of the cranium in its abso- 
lute sense is not in correlation to the development of the mental 
functions, notwithstanding what is commonly affirmed. The 
reform is urgent, but a natural method should be employed, and 
that is my purpose. 



PART SECOND. — Method and Classification. 

I. 

Varieties. 

The greatest variation in a series of human crania cannot be 
distinguished by an untrained eye; anatomists continually accus- 
tomed to the study of the human skeleton and scholastic demon- 
strations do not at first discover the salient points of difference 
among crania, their attention being distracted by observing the 
single parts of which they are composed, the canals, depressions 
and minor details, and does not grasp the complex form of the 
entire cranium. There are two different kinds of observations: 
one is useful in examining the development and normal condition 
of the cranium; the other serves for the classification of forms, 
and it is this last method of inquiry which I am about to consider. 

The distinctions of forms depend in the first place on the com- 
parison of different crania. They should be placed upon a table 
and compared in every direction. Little by little a useful habit 
and keen eye are acquired, by means of which the slightest varia- 
tions are detected, so that the similarity of fundamental character- 
istics can be seen among great differences which at first appear 
absolutely dissimilar. 



26 THE VARIE TIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 

The practical method which I have already adopted, for me and 
others who wish to make use of it, is that of placing the series of 
crania in order and in an equal row upon a large table, the first 
time, if possible, of the same color, intact, that is, without having 
been sawed to extract the brain, without the lower jaw, and there- 
fore upon a single plane, each placed upon its base. Difiference of 
color, the line which divides a cranium sawed, an inequality in the 
table, may alter the positions of the forms or render the discovery 
of similarities and differences more difHcult. 

When familiarity with the forms has once been acquired, many 
of the conditions become superfluous, and then an isolated 
cranium is classified without the necessity of a comparison, at least 
in the forms which are common. 

After various and attentive observations and continuous com- 
parisons, it is necessary to form groups of crania which seem to 
have common characteristics. Formed in groups, each group must 
be separately analyzed in every component, in order to recognize 
common and diverging characteristics; if these last are marked, 
separate the groups into subgroups, noting the individual differ- 
ences which must necessarily exist. 

Formed in groups and subgroups, one typical cranium is 
selected for each group or subgroup, and its likeness is trans- 
ferred by drawing a free-hand outline, by placing the cranium 
itself upon paper, or by means of a camera, and finally the volume 
is reduced, or rather the linear magnitude, to a third or half, mak- 
ing this reduction equal in all the crania which are designed. 
Drawing has the very great advantage of revealing the linear 
curves, which are not immediately observed, and demonstrates 
characteristic differences very easily. In case of doubt concern- 
ing certain forms which seem similar, it is well to place the pro- 
files one above another, in order readily to observe similarities and 
differences, whether apparent or real, profound or superficial. 

The following are additional rules : Distinguish the crania which 
compose the groups according to sex, because sexual differences 
should not impair or alter the types under which the crania are 
classed, nor should another type be made on account of character- 
istics which are merely sexual. The observer should be trained to 
discover the sexes of crania and sexual characteristics dis- 
tinctly and clearly. When the groups are formed, the crania 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 2/ 

should be adult, though when special conditions permit, those of 
infants can be added. We should bear in mind that the forms of 
the latter are never decided, just as they are not permanent. The 
condition of the sutures and of normal or abnormal development 
should be taken into account, because abnormal development, as 
well as the partial arrest of development, may profoundly alter 
typical forms; exclude, therefore, all pathological crania when 
this pathological condition is apparent. I have, however, been 
able to observe and will demonstrate in a future work^ that crania 
belonging to persons of enfeebled mind, in spite of various alter- 
ations, preserve the typical forms and are recognizable without 
difficulty by those experienced in the method and classes of forms. 

The examination of the cranium must begin with the well- 
known norma verticalis of Blumenbach, that norma from which, 
in turn, Retzius derives the index of the width. It should furnish 
us the first form or the first characteristic for classification. When 
the vertical line is undecided, or cannot be reduced to a normal 
form, then the norma lateralis must be observed in order to ascer- 
tain the first characteristic; it may also happen that the lateral 
modifies the norma verticalis so profoundly that it may be pre- 
ferred to this, or that it may have a characteristic much more 
prominent and more easily distinguished than the vertical; in 
such a case it should have the first place. It may also happen 
that another characteristic may be more decided and more marked, 
giving it the preference, and such a characteristic may be visible 
in the norma occipitalis or norma facialis; this should then be 
selected as the first characteristic for distinguishing varieties. 

Let us now consider those characteristics which should separate 
and classify varieties according to the natural method. I begin 
with the forms given by the norma verticalis, as they are those 
which are easily distinguished and can be in great part reduced to 
geometrical figures. 

1st. Ellipsoid {ellipsoides) (Fig. 2). 

We will call ellipsoid a cranium which in the norma verticalis 
presents an elliptical contour, as in the figure reproduced, taken 
from life, and which I insert in the parallelogram in order to show 

^ This is the work of Dr. G. Mingazzini, entitled Concerning the Craniology of 
the Insane. 



28 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



its regularity and demonstrate how the exterior outUne harmon- 
izes with the lines which surround it. Ellipsoid, or whatever 
similar name is adopted, signifies a body which has an outline 
similar to an ellipsis. Such an elliptical form, very common 
among varieties of crania, necessarily has all the projections 
rounded off, the occipital is never flat, and the parietal pro- 
tuberances are always slight, or do not exist; the transverse curve 
of the norma verticalis or cranial arch is moderately or decidedly 
convex. 




Fig. 2.— Ellipsoides. 

A form of this kind, considered only as norma verticalis, is 
subject to variations in length and width; hence it may be a short 
and wide ellipsis, br achy ellipsoid {br achy ellipsoides), a long one 
or a narrow one, dolichellipsoid or stenellipsoid. 

2d. Pentagonoid (J>entagonoides) (Fig. 3). 

Figure 3 shows a pentagon of unequal sides, but symmetrical, 
into which is inserted a cranial form corresponding to its respec- 
tive sides, but with rounded angles, of which the most rounded, 
which is cut off, is that which corresponds to the occipital cone. 
In this cranial type the parietal protuberances are pointed, and 
often with corners definite and acute; from these points towards 
the frontal there is a gradual narrowing, and so also towards the 
occipital; but with this difference, that while from the parietal 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



29 



protuberances forward this narrowing, which forms the two sym- 
metrical sides, is maintained almost at the same level as the cranial 
arch, the level from the parietal protuberances to the occiput 
becomes oblique and descends to form the angle of the pentagon. 




Fig. 3.— Pentagonoides. 



This obliquity is very evident when seen from the norma verti- 
calis (Fig. 4). 




Fig. 4.— Pentagonoides. 

The variations which the pentagonal norma verticalis may pre- 
sent are as follows: 



30 THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 

1st. The corners are acute or obtuse; ^\i^xvz^2,pe7itagonoides 
acutus and obiusus : the anterior part of the cranium, that is, the 
two sides which reunite the parietal to the frontal protuberances, 
can be longer or shorter than usual ; there will then be a penta- 
gonoides oblongus or a bj'achypentagonoides. 

3d. Rhomboid {rhomboides). 

The rhomboidal form of the norma verticalis (Fig. 5) can inter- 
change with the pentagonal form, because the most characteristic 
difference consists in the suppression of the one side correspond- 
ing to the frontal width. 



V 
Fig. 5.— Rhomboides. 

This side is very short in the rhomboidal figure of the cranium 
when considered in relation to the biparietal width of which the 
protuberances are very distinct and pointed; so the occipital pro- 
jection is still more acute on account of the greater convergence 
of the two posterior sides. In this variety the cranium is smooth 
in the sagittal line, low in relation to its width and length. 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



31 



Of this singular form I have so far found two variations dis- 
tinguishable by the norma verticalis: ist, the australensis^ of which 
I give the type in Fig. 5 ; and 2d, the brachyrhoniboides 
aegyptiacus, shorter and wider than the preceding. 

N. B. That these forms are often found in infantile crania is a 
fact worthy of attention. 

4th. Ovoid {ovoides). This form (Fig. 6) is distinguishable only 
by the norma verticalis. The enlargement of the cranium is at 
the parietals at about a third of their entire length and posteriorly. 
The occiput terminates at the large apex of the ^^"g^ while the 
second apex is represented by the frontal. The cranium has sym- 
metrical curves; the arch is not always very convex and may have 
a transverse curve, slight and easy. 




Fig. 6.— Ovoides. 

The ovoid cannot be confused with the pentagonoid, because it 
has no sides, nor apparent corners, nor has it the occipital obli- 
quity which forms the posterior part of the two posterior sides of 
the pentagonoid. 

The " Sardinian ovoid," which I have described and named 
sardiniensis, diverges a little from this type; the enlargement of 
the parietals is situated a little in advance of that in the type 
described,, and, besides, the ovoidal appcn^ance is also perceived 
in the norma lateralis. 



32 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



5th. Sphenoid {sphenoides). 

The cranium represented in Fig. 7, which I name " sphenoid," 
from the Greek, is cuneiform. The characteristics of this type are 




Fig. 7.— Sphenoides. 



very evident ; the biparietal enlargement of the cranium is far back, 
and there is a gradual and sensible reduction in width from that 




Fig. 8.— Sphenoides Stenometropus. 



unusually large extension as far as the frontal. The occipital 
part is, therefore, either level and vertical, or rounded, without pro- 
tuberance. 



7' HE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



33 



This form, seen in the norma verticaHs only, is subject to many 
variations, preserving, however, the characteristics which clearly 
distinguish it from others. I add some of the most common 
forms which I have found and classified. 

I, Sphenoides stenometropus, that with a narrow forehead and 
generally a small capacity. This type is very common in the Medi- 
terranean (Fig. 8). 




Fig. 9.— Sphenoides Rotundus. 
2. Sphenoides rotundus (Fig. 9), which is larger and wider than 




Fig. 10.— Sphenoides Latus. 

the former, and has the elevations rounded oflf, especially in the 
occipital part, which is globular. 



34 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



3. Sphenoides latiis (Fig. 10). This is much wider in its biparie- 
tal expansion and is short. It has the occipital smooth and per- 




FiG. 1 1.— Sphenoides Latus. 



pendicular, the parietal prominences acute, the corners evident 
and the sides flat; observed laterally, this type appears cuboid 
(Fig. II). 




Fig. 12.— Sphenoides Megas. 



This is the characteristic type of the Kourgans of Russia, and 
for that reason I have called it kurga7iicus. 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



35 



4. Sphenoides megas (Fig. 12), the largest which I have found. 
It is also distinguished in the norma verticahs by a certain con- 
vexity in the sides of the cranium and by the posterior rotundity. 
This type is also obtained from the Kourgans. 

5. Sphenoides oblongus. I so name that sphenoid which has a 
marked distance between the greatest biparietal width and the 
bifrontal line. This type is opposed to the latus, which is short. 

6th. Spheroid {sphaeroides). 

The general character of this cranial form is the rounding of the 
frontal, parietal, parieto-occipital and the inferior or basal parts of 
the occiput itself, by spherical curves. 

The cranium is relatively wide and short, the forehead and 
frontal large, the cranial arch widely convex, the occiput without 
protuberance, but rounding, the base wide (Fig. 13). 




Fig. 13.— Sphaeroides. 



I have already distinguished three principal forms of the 
spheroid, visible from the norma verticalis. 

1st. Sphaeroides proper, which we also find subdivided. 

2d. Sphaer otocephalus , which diverges by having a forehead 
wider but slightly retreating, following, therefore, the spheroidal 



36 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



as far as the coronal curve, and which as a whole becomes less 
even in its curves than the typical spheroid proper. 




Fig. 14.— Strongylocephalus. 



3d. Strongylocephalus. This type differs in that it has a narrow- 
ng in its sphenoidal fossae, visible in Fig. 14, so that the spherical 
part of the cranium is that which remains back of this narrowing. 




Fig. 1 5.— Strongylocephalus. 



Fig. 15 shows also very well the frontal narrowing in its temporal 
lines, while the transversal curve is clearly spheroidal. 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



37 



7t±i. BiRSOiD {byrsoides) (Fig. i6). 

The apparent form of this cranial t\^pe is an ovoid, which is 
removed from the usual form, because it has a rather large biparie- 
tal expansion, which does not terminate at the apex of the tg%, 
but is rounded off; moreover, the cun-es, which are directed from 
the larger to the frontal expansion, are concave, with dilatation of 
the frontal line. Thus this form seems to be that of an elongated 
purse, the opening of which is found at the bifrontal line and the 
bottom at the expansion of the parietal curves, whence the name 
of byrsoides (like a purse). 




Fig. 16.— Byrsoides. 



Obsen-ed from the side, the birsoid presents a superior plane; 
it is low, with the occipital rounding, but protuberant. 

In its norma verticalis I have observed a variation among the 
birsoids of ancient Eg}'pt, one with a smaller biparietal expansion. 
The cranium of this variety is large. 

The seven forms which have been described are lecognizable 
by the norma verticalis. The following are those in which the 
vertical is insufficient, uncertain or can be easily confounded with 
others wh.ich are different. Among these the following are found: 



;8 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



8th. Parallelepipedoid (^pai'allelepipedoides). 

Figures 17 and 19 represent a Sardinian t3'pe. Tlie normal 
line has a slight swelling in the posterior part, and does not give 
the exact image of the form with parallel lines, while the lateral 
line corresponds to its name more closely. This form has a flat 





Fig. 17.— Parallelepipedoides 
Sardin. 



Fig. 18.— Parallelepipedoides 
kurganicus. 



arch, vertical forehead, smooth occiput, and the base leveled; it is 
narrow, long, low, with smooth sides and evident corners, which 
makes a geometrical form. 




Fig. 19.— Parallelepipedoides Sardin. 

Figure iSrt^vtstnis2ipa7'allelepipedoidivovLV the Russian Kour- 
gans. It appears ver}' clear by the parallel lines of the t\vo sides, 
its length and regularity. 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



39 



This form is not very common, and can undergo variations in 
the norma verticalis, that is, can be larger in the transverse diame- 
ter, and hence relatively shorter; it is always low in the norma 
lateralis and through its entire length. 

9th. Cylindroid {cylindroides). 

If the rounding of the corners and the sides of the parallel- 
epipedoid renders it more convex, there is the " cylindroid," which 
is long, narrow, low, like the first, but rounded all around. There- 
fore the forehead is lower, retreating (Fig. 20), and, seen from the 
vertical, the occiput is narrow (Fig. 21); this occurs in the types 
here given, of which one (Fig. 21) is from Latium, the other from 
the Russian Kourgans. Such a form is rather rare, as is also the 
parallelepipedoid. 




Fig. 20.— Cylinlroides 



Fig. 21.— Cylindroides. 



1 0th. Cuboid {cuboides). 

The cranium resembling a cube, has the arch, the occipital, and 
the sides smooth, and possibly the forehead, which is almost 
always vertical, at least in the small cuboids. One cubical form, 
which approaches nearer to its typical name, has the vertical line 
about corresponding to a quadrilateral, a little elongated; but we 
know that the anterior is always narrower than the posterior part 
of the cranium. As a rule, such a cranial form is more visible 



40 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



from the norma verticalis (Fig. 22) and from the posterior (Fig. 
23). The characteristic of the norma occipitaUs is especially that 
the height is almost always equal to the width; hence we obtain 
the true cubical form from the side, this presenting a superficies 
of the cube. 




Fig. 22.— Cuboides Parvus. 



Fig. 23.— Cuboides Parvus. 



Figure 24 represents a cuboides jnagnus (from the Kourgans), 
while Figs. 22 and 23 reproduce a cuboides parvus of Sardinia. 




Fig. 24.— Cuboides Magnus. 



Masculine cuboids may be found, especially large ones, with 
retreating foreheads and frontal sinuses large, and differing from 
the type Fig. 24. 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



41 



The forms which follow are determined especially by the norma 
lateralis; first of all is the 

nth. Trapezoid {trapezoides). 

The two parallel sides of the trapezium here correspond to the 




Fig. 25 —Trapezoides Sardiniensis. 



arch and the base of the cranium (Fig. 25), the two sides not 
parallel are the sloping of the forehead, and the occiput more or 




Fig. 26.— Trapezoides Africus. 



less oblique. The type which I show is the trapezoides sardhiieii- 
sis, a small microcephalous cranium. One important variation 
of the trapezoid is that which I have called African {africus) ^ 



42 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



which I have obtained from Harar, and which I have seen again in 
Russia, especially in the Government of the Chersonesus. 

The Sardinian t>-pe is distinguished by being higher in the 
back, wider in the norma verticalis, and relatively short (Fig. 26). 

In order to recognize this form it is necessary to know that the 
greater height of the cranium is at the back, and thence there is 
a perceptible sloping towards the forehead, which is low. The 




Fig. 27.— Acmonoides (Tver). 



occipital is raised on an inclined plane, ver^^ sloping, while the base 
of the cranium does not rest upon the same plane through its 



entire length. 




Fig. 28.— Acmonoides Siculus. 



1 2th. AcMONOiD [acmonoides) (Figs. 27, 28). 

It is not difficult to distinguish this variety with its anvil-like form. 
Once seen, it becomes impressed on the memor\' by the singularity 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



43 



of its shape. A long cranium, the norma verticaHs not elHptical 
nor ovoid, because the sides are straight, a slight swelling of the 
parietal protuberances situated very far back, and the occipital 
resembling a quadrangular pyramid, leaning slightly on its cranial 
base. The cranium is high on the side, the forehead vertically 
inclined, but a little elevated; the arch is on the horizontal plane, 
abruptly inclined at the summit of the occipital pyramid, the 
extremity or protuberance of the occipital level. It has quite a 
large capacity. The types given here are derived (Fig. 2f) from 
the Russian Kourgans, (Fig. 28) from modern Sicily. 





Rg. 29.— Lophocephalus. 



Fig. 30.— Lophocephalus. 



13th. LoPHOCEPHALic {lopJiocepkalus) (Figs. 29, 30). 

This variety has a conspicuous trait not seen from the norma 
verticalis nor norma lateralis, but from the norma facialis and the 
norma occipitalis. This is, as shown in Figs. 29 and 30, the median 
eminence extending from the forehead to the sagittal. This emi- 
nence, which I call lophus (lophos), and which is described by 
other anthropologists as " crania with the arch of the backbone of 
an ass," or '• arch like the keel of a ship," commences in the upper 
part of the frontal, at the place where the frontal curve first 
becomes horizontal. It is an elevation of the median portion, 
with lateral depressions amounting to a slight concavity, which 
reaches the coronal, the highest part of the eminence and surpasses 
it, invading the sagittal, where it terminates at the apex of the 
triangle, gradually disappearing. 



44 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



This variety I have described among the crania of Melanesia, 
and the type which I give is from there; but it is not Hmited to 
that region and presents certain variations. 

14th. Chomatocephalus {chomatocephalus) (Fig. 31). 

We call "tumulus-like" {chomd) that cranium which is ele- 
vated like a hill upon a horizontal plane passing through the orbital 
arches. It is not spherical, and slopes almost equally on all sides, 
starting at the summit of the cranial arch, which is much elevated, 
as seen in Fig. 31. Such a cranial arch may not always be regu- 
lar in its inclinations, nor perfectly symmetrical, and not like a 
hill or gradual elevations of land, but should resemble a high ele- 
vation, and be almost disproportionate to the face. The type pre- 
sented is from Melanesia. It is large, with a large capacity; there 
are also smaller and different types, both in the same region and 
elsewhere. 





Fig. 31.— Chomatocephalus. 



Fig. 32.— Platycephalus. 



15th. Platycephalic (^platycephalus). 

Platycephaly usually concerns the arch of the cranium only. 
It is flat, in a relative degree to the usual convexity. In fact it is 
a curve of the cranial arch which resembles an arc of a circle with 
a large radius; the platycephalic forms will be distinguishable in 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



45 



proportion as this idea is considered. As a rule the cranium is 
also wide in its transverse diameter, and hence it is also relatively 
short, as seen in the brachycephalic, Figs. 32, 33 and 34. Fig, 32, 
which is the profile of an Italian cranium, resembles strongly 
Fig. 33, which is a Russo-Kourgan ; Fig. 34 is the norma verticalis 
of the latter and shows its relative width. 




Fig. 33.— Platyceph. Bogdanovii. 



Fig. 34.— Platyceph. Bogdanovii. 



This characteristic is so evident and so much a part of the 
cranial form, to which a pathological signification has been erro- 
neously attributed, that it alone is sufficient to constitute a distinct 
variety. It is easy to distinguish a cranium by such a characteris- 
tic without directly considering the norma facialis or norma occi- 
pitalis, and hence it is a good characteristic for classification. 
Among platycephalous forms there is one which is prominent on 
account of the unusual lowness of the arch, besides being very 
flat. It presents a small forehead and a general depression of the 
cranium from the orbital apophysis to the superior plane. The 
top of the cranium resembles a flat cake or a bun, whence the 
name placuntoidcs which I have given to it, that is, the form of a 
flat cake (Fig. 35). There are also platycephali with narrow fore- 
heads, which I will consider later. 



46' 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



1 6th. Skopeloid {skopeloides) (Fig. 36). 

The form which I call " rock-like " (skopelos) is \try curious. 
It has a summit on the posterior part of the cranium which slopes 
from ever}' side, and at the occiput descends rapidly to the base. 
The cranium is large, wide at the base, with a narrow forehead, 
and the frontal slightly sloping, following the inclined plane of the 
posterior summit. 




Fig. 35.— Placuntoides. 



This form is difficult to describe, and Fig. 36 gives an imperfect 
idea of it. 




Fig. 36.— Skopeloides Samniticus. 
Of this variety, so characteristic and quite common in Samos, 
I have seen some which are microcephalous, in Samos and like- 
wise in the Russian Kourgans, although there very rare. 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 4/ 

The sixteen human varieties above described I have deter- 
mined, after observations of more than 3500 crania, principally 
from the Mediterranean, prehistoric tombs, and modern Russia, 
the crania of the Kourgans, and from soij|e ancient cemeteries in 
Moscow and the Chersonesus, and from ^Melanesia, I can afftrm 
nothing of the entire number of human varieties, nor of their dis- 
tribution, before making new and direct personal observations in 
the rest of Europe and in other parts of the world ; I wait in confi- 
dence and with the earnest desire of making such observations. 
I afhrm with some personal satisfaction that, as regards the new 
anthropological method, I have surmounted its uncertainties. 
The number of varieties has been much reduced, and they are 
separated by definite and recognizable characteristics. 

I cannot affirm that new varieties may not be found even in the 
Mediterranean field, where I have chiefly extended my researches. 
If they should be found they would be few, and probably brought 
from other localities. 



II. 

Subvarieties. 

Though the number of varieties which I have until now deter- 
mined in the Mediterranean and Russia, together with some from 
Melanesia, is limited to sixteen only, the subvarieties are much 
more numerous. Subvarieties should first of all preserve the 
characteristics of the variety of which they are a variation, and 
should have some other characteristic, which must not be transi- 
tory and individual, but fixed and hereditary. Groups of sub- 
varieties must constitute real groups; the variety is the principal 
denomination of characteristics common to many subvarieties, 
which add to the primary or dominant characteristic one or several 
new characteristics which separate the subvarieties from each 
other, as the following scheme exhibits: 

Variety: A. 

Subvariety : A -(- a, A -j- b, A -|- c, A + d, and so on. 

While the characteristic A gives the name to the variety, the 
less general characteristics a, b. c, d give the subvarieties of A. 



48 THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 

The same relation is found in the animal kingdom between 
genera and species, or between species and varieties; in the first 
place, the universal characteristics of the genus are limited by 
those of the species; \r\. the second, those of the species are 
restricted by those of the varieties, and those of the variety by the 
subvarieties. I have above stated that while in my opinion the 
name of variety is general in its meaning, and therefore also 
provisional, it may remain definitive by further study and assume 
a fixed signification. Different results may be reached, but the 
classification will remain unaltered, because the characteristics 
will continue stable and the method unchanged. , 

In determining the characteristics of numerous series of crania, 
and in arranging groups of one variety, another plan occurred to 
me, that of finding characteristics which separate a subvariety 
into groups of a third order, meaning by a group of the ist order 
the variety ; then we shall have a plan like the following : 

1st. Variety: A. 

2d. Subvariety : A + ^^ A -f- b, A + c, etc. 

3d. Sub-subvariety : A-f-a + a, A-f-a + /9, A + a + T'. 

The characteristics «, /9, y are not transitory ; they are stable, and, 
on this account, of the same type as those which distinguish the 
subvarieties a, b, c, etc. 

It is easy to answer an inquiry as to the manner of distinguish- 
ing these characteristics: individual variations are not repeated, 
and they therefore do not occur in many individuals, unless acci- 
dentally; not only do they cause little divergence from the typical 
forms, they constitute oscillations of the same form recognizable 
as such. It is not so with the characteristics of subgroups of the 
2d or 3d order; they alter the fundamental form in some part, and 
are repeated in groups composed of several individual elements. 

We have seen how we may determine varieties, which in a great 
measure assume geometrical forms and receive corresponding 
names, because of their approximation to bodies with well-known 
geometrical characters. We have also seen that we can determine 
the form of this irregular body, the brain, either by the vertical or 
lateral norm,, or in some cases by the anterior or posterior aspect. 
Besides the normae which determine the variety, there remain 
other normae which have various characters, and can therefore 
complete the craniological type or show its variations beyond the 



THE VARIE TIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



49 



primary character which places it in a given variety. An ellip- 
soid, regarded vertically, may have different normae laterales, at 
the same time remaining an ellipsoid; it may also have other char- 
acteristics, visible from the norma occipitalis, which make it vary 
from another cranium, also ellipsoid, with a different norma occi- 
pitalis. There may also be variation in the same norma which 
gives the fundamental form; for example, the ellipsoid (Fig. 38) 
is shorter and relatively wider than the one beside it (Fig. 37), 





Fig. 37— Dolichellipsoides. 



Fig. 38.— Brachyellipsoides. 



which is therefore a " dolichellipsoid," while those wide and short, 
like Fig. 38, we may call " brachyellipsoids." Such variations of 
elliptical forms correspond to the structure of the cranium, and 
therefore constitute subvarieties. 

Following the order above carried out in the varieties, I com- 
mence with the ellipsoid. 



I. Ellipsoides. 

1st. Ellips. depressus. 

This is visible from the norma lateralis and also from the norma 
anterior (Fig. 39). Cranium low from the vertex to the occipital 
base, as if crushed in every direction from the frontal and lateral 
sides, and therefore with a narrow, retreating forehead, of curved 



50 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



form; the same of the occiput. This curious and characteristic 
form is subject to variations which would take too long to 
describe here. 




Fig. 39— Ellips. Depressus. 
2d. Ellips. isopericampyhts (Fig. 40). 

Isopericampylus signifies "with equal curves all around"; the 
character of this subvariety is especially that the form is handsome 
and perfect. It may have variations in the form of the ellipse 
and in some other characters. 




Fig. 40.— Ellips. Isopericampylus. 

3d. Ellips. embolicus. 

From embolus, prow, because the occipital decline, which com- 
mences well forward, reaches as far as the cranial base, and such 



THE VARIETIES OF THE'^UMAN SPECIES. 



51 



a projection has the apparent form of a stiip's prow. I at first 
called this form emboloides meridionalis, becajuse I had observed it 
among the crania of Southern Italy. I found it again in Russia 




Fig. 41.— Ellips. Embolicus. 



among the Kourgan crania, among Etruscan crania, ancient 
Roman, and finally at Novilara (Pesaro) in tombs perhaps of the 





Fig. 43.— Stenellips. Hypsistegoides. 



Fig. 42.— Stenellips. Embolicus, 

5th century before the Christian era. Fig. 41 is the profile of a 
cranium of the Kourgans of Tver. This cranium, that is, this 



52 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



cranial form with definite ellipses, is long and at times exceeds 
200 mm., and differs in width. In the meridional emboloid it is 
135-138 mm., but in others is below 130mm.; hence the name of 
stenellipsoides embolicus which I have given it, as in the cranium 
from Novilara which I have shown here (Fig. 42). 

4th. Ellips. hypsistegoides (Fig. 43). 

This form is visible from the posterior norma of the cranium, 
as in Fig. 43 (cranium from Novilara). The arch is constructed 
like a roof in the example here given, and the height of the cra- 
nium from the base to the vertex is considerable. There are 
stegoid varieties also, that is, with a roof-like arch, not very high. 




Fig. 44.— Ellips. Corythocephalus. 



5th. Ellips. corythocephalus (Fig. 44). 

" Helmet-Hke cranium," high, with a fine curve from the fore- 
head to the occiput as far as the base, of large capacity, and flat at 
the sides. This gives it the appearance of a helmet. I found it 
first among ancient Egyptian crania, whence its name of aegyptia- 
cus ; then among the Kourgan crania. 

6th. Ellips. epiopisthius. That is, a cranium of elliptical form 
in which the level rises from the frontal towards the posterior part, 
so that the latter appears to be raised (Fig. 45). 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES, 



53 



7th. Ellips. scalenus. The epiopisthius can also be, as in this 
case, scalenus, a rapid obliquity from the occipital slope. But the 
cranio-scalenus can also be found without being epiopisthius, and 




Fig. 45.— Ellips. Epiopisthius. 

vice versa. These two characteristics appear separately and 
together in other varieties, as in the ovoid, the platycephalus, and 
in the ellipsoidal subvariety. This may also be said of the roof- 
like form, or stegoid, and of the hypsistegoid. 




Fig. 46.— Ellips. Tetragonalis. 
8th. Ellips. tetragonalis (Fig. 46). 
This ellipsoidal form is very characteristic in its norma lateralis, 



54 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



which has the appearance of a tetragon, whence its name. The 
cranium is high, the forehead as a rule erect, the occiput perpen- 
dicular and very convex and depressed at the sides. It may be 
confused with the cuboid when seen only from the norma later- 
alis. But I must now omit a series of subgroups and limit myself 
to the principal forms. 

II. Pentagonoides. — With regard to varieties, I have distin- 
guished various pentagonoids, acutus, obtusus, oblongus, brachy- 
pentagonoides ; and there may be stegoids, cristati, etc. 

III. Rhomboides, — The rhomboids are also short, brachy- 
rhomboideSy or elongated in the anterior part, oblongus. 

IV. Ovoides. — Subvarieties of ovoids are found with wedge- 
like occiput, cuneatus, scalenus, stegoides, depressus. 




Fig. 47.— Sphen. Tetragonus. 

V. Sphenoides. — By the norma verticalis I have distinguished 
sphenoides, stenometopus, sph. rotundus, spelatus, sph. megas, sph. 
oblongus; an important subvariety is found in tetragonus (Fig. 47), 
which is not only sphenoidal in the vertical, but also in the lateral, 
and has prominent corners, rendering the vertex and sides plane. 

There is likewise a sphenoid, cyrtocephalus, which has a 
convexity extending from the frontal and parietals to the vertex, 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



55 



resembling a protuberance, though not so pronounced as to con- 
stitute a crista or a lophos ; if these two characteristics are found, 
the sph. is cristatus or lophoides (Fig. 48). 




T^,/vJ\.aIa/1 



Fig. 48.— Sphen. Cristatus. 



VI. Sphaeroides. — I have given the principal variations of this 
variety, that is : 

a) sphaer otocephalus ; 

b) sphaeroides, hemisphaeroides ; 

c) strongylocephalus (see above). 

VII. Byrsoides. — So far I have only found one variation from 
the siculus, that is, the aegyptiacus, which is a little narrower (see 
above). 

VIII., IX., X. ParallelepipedoideSy Cylindroides, Cuboides (see 
varieties). 

e 

XI. Trapezoides. — I have already distinguished two subvarie- 
ties with the names of Trap, sardiniensis and Trap, africus. 
These are the most typical and commonest variations; in my cata- 
logue of Russian varieties several other secondar}^ forms are 
found, of which the commonest is trap, rotundatus. 

There is a subvariety which I considered during my first obser- 
vations as a distinct variety, and which I had named Pyrgoides, 



56 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



a cranium resembling the form of a tower. This cranium is also 
a trapezoid, but it is larger, the occiput is high and perpendicular, 
so that the vertex of the cranium coincides very far back with the 
bregma. It is large enough to appear spheroid, the anteposterior 
declivity slopes uniformly from the back. 

I preserve the name Pyrgoides for such forms because the 
occipital looks like the wall of a tower, high and quadrangular; 
but I consider it a subvariety of the trapezoid. I have noticed 
variations in Pyrg. ramanus. The type in Fig. 49 is a cyrtocepha- 
lus, so called on account of the fronto-bregmatic protuberance, 
a rotundatus on account of the truncated comers and the convex 
faces. 




Fig. 49— Pyrgoides. 



XII. Acmonoides. — Of this singular variety I have found sub- 
varieties : a) siculus, which is the typical form described ; b) mega- 
lometopuSy or having a large, wide forehead ; c) obtusus, on account 
of the rounded corners; d) stegoides, on account of the roof-like 
arch ; e) subtilis, because narrower than the type; f) proophyrocus, 
because it has prominent frontal sinuses which do not exist in the 
type. 

XIII. Lophicephalus. — This variety offers some variations 
from the type from Melanesia before presented; its principal 
characteristic does not consist in the lophos, but in the cranial 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



57 



form being a little larger. It is found among the Kourgans 
(Fig. 50); the width is greater posteriorly, and the lateral parts 
more convex, loph. kurganicus. 




Fig. 50.— Lophoc. Kurganicus. 

XIV. ChomatocephalMs. 

I have found subgroups with the following characteristics : 

a) Chom. angulosus, because it has a surface with angular pro- 
jections. 

b) Chom. summuSy on account of its great height. 

c) Chom. cristatus, on account of its crest-like summit. 

d) Chofn. sphenoidalis, for its wedge-like form as observed 
from the norma verticalis. 



XV. Platycephalus. — The varieties with most subvarieties are 
the Ellipsoides, the Sphenoides, and the Platycephalus. Of the 
Platyc. I have so far been able to distinguish 22 varieties, of which 
several also have subgroups, as the Isobathy platycephalus, which 
I have called siculus because first found in the tombs of the neo- 
lithic age in Sicily (Fig. 51). We find: 

a) Platyc. cuneatus ; b) platyc. humilus ; c) stenometopus ; d) 
platyc.brachymetopus ; e) euryplatymetopus ; {) platyc. embolicus ; 
g) platyc. rotundus ; h) platyc, scalenus, and so on. 



58 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 



XVI. Scopeloides. — A common form in Santos, and should be 
more sought after in Italy. 




Fig. 51.— Isobathyplatyc. Siculus. 



In ending this description of subvarieties, at present limited to 
those of the sixteen human varieties (and which I consider incom- 
plete in number, just as I have considered incomplete the number 
of varieties of the Mediterranean and Kourgans of Russia, where 
I have found the varieties described), I should add, in order to 
complete the picture of subvarieties, another characteristic of 
classification, of which I have above spoken, the volume of the 
cranium. 

As I have said, what is well known in regard to other animals 
occurs in man, that large and small varieties are found, both in 
stature and in the volume of the cranium, and these differences in 
size and volume are not indications of functional superiority or of 
priority. The functions of the brain of 1200 gr. can be just as 
perfect as those of a brain of 1600 gr., and it is known that not all 
large and voluminous brains are those of great men, nor are those 
of inferior or commonplace human types small. I have found 
ellipsoids, cuboids, ovoids, pentagonoids, platycephali, trapezoids, 
large, medium, and small, with complete and perfect structures 
in the large as well as in the small and microcephalic varie- 
ties; for this reason I have thought it wise to consider types of 
different volume or cranial capacity as subvarieties, and not to 
confuse the capacity of one with another. 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 59 

I have also found that certain cranial types have a special capa- 
city which does not belong to another type. Thus the trapezoids 
have a small capacity, between elatto- and microcephalic, and never 
exceed that limit; that of the pyrgoids is greater; the stenocephali 
have a small capacity; the coritocephali are megalocephalic, and 
so on. 

I have adopted the words megas, magnus, maximus for the 
large and largest varieties, medius for the medium, and parvus 
and micros for the small and smallest varieties. In respect to the 
capacity when measured, we may practically consider micros as 
far as the average of 1 1 50 cc. ; parvus, as far as the average 
1350 cc. ; megas, from 1500 up ; maximus, beyond 1700 cc. Thus 
the number of subvarieties becomes increased. 



III. 

Nomenclature. 

Nomenclature is necessary in the classification of animals, of 
plants and minerals. Names aid to discern forms, to recognize 
general characteristics by means of which series and groups are 
formed, to distinguish series from each other. Without names 
we should not know of what we speak. Thus in the classification 
of human varieties and subvarieties it is necessary to adopt tech- 
nical names in order to indicate them; although we may but 
imperfectly express the entire conception of the form which we 
wish to indicate. 

For this purpose I have selected words from the Greek and 
secondarily from the Latin languages, because Greek words are 
better adapted for proper names, and are easily constructed, while 
words in use in a modern language would be difficult to foreigners, 
and having a vulgar signification, would be equivocal; finally, 
because many languages derive names of geometrical forms from 
Greek and Latin, and hence such can easily be understood. 

It may appear that I have too much increased the number of 
technical names in my earlier vci^mo\r, Human Varieties of Melan- 
esia. In a measure that is true, but most of the words for each 
variety were in use previously. Brachy, meso, dolichocephalo, 
hypsi, chamecephalo, lepto, chameprosopo, lepto, mcso, platyrinno, 



60 THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 

brachy, leptostafilino and the like are not my words. It appeared 
that the vocabulary would be enormous and sibylline when other 
expressions were added to the name of stenocephalo, etc. The 
French school, as regards nomenclature, is the most exaggerated. 
I need but state that besides the words above given and common 
to all anthropological schools, it has basion, episthion, pterion, 
obelion, inion, nasion, ophryon, metopion, stphanion and the like. 
If in adopting the zoological method which I have indicated we 
abandon craniometry, and with it its nomenclature, there will 
remain but few technical terms for the indications of varieties and 
subvarieties, and then nomenclature will be brief and significative. 
Whoever reads my Memoirs from the first, that upon the Melan- 
esians, to the last, upon " microcephalic varieties," will observe 
how I have little by little eliminated names and confusing and 
wearisome measurements, and have reduced classification by tech- 
nical terms for nomenclature to the greatest simplicity. 

Objections made against the nomenclature which I have intro- 
duced can also be applied to that used in zoology and botany and 
in all the sciences which have one. An important objection seems 
to me that of Professor Benedict of Vienna, who would like to 
abolish every word of Greek and Latin origin, because they are 
dead languages which in a few years will no longer be taught in 
schools of science. I agree with him. But, as I have above said, 
it matters little whether a technical name of a variety be under- 
stood in its signification provided that the variety denominated 
be known by means of the name, and nothing more, when it 
refers to a determinate form. Moreover^ a reform in classification 
should not suffer through a difficulty in names, which, if they were 
Italian, would not be easily accepted and understood by strangers. 
Greek and Latin have at least the advantage of being languages 
which can now be universally retained for the sciences. The 
objections, or rather I should say the observations, made by 
Hovelacque and Mantegazza are of no value and do not merit 
attention. 

I at first adopted technical names Italianized, but afterwards, 
in order to render the meaning easy to foreigners, I adopted the 
Latinized form, which has the advantage of preserving the original 
vowels and consonants. The naturalist, accustomed to zoological 
nomenclature, finds nothing newj, much less strange, in this 



THE VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 6 1 

method, and the anthropologist is a naturalist who is occupied 
exclusively with man. 

I consider it useful and opportune to prepare catalogues of the 
varieties and subvarieties, and to record the geographical distri- 
bution of forms; they are pictures which render two facts evident, 
the number of ethnic elements and their dispersion. 

I hope by this method and by these principles a systematic 
anthropolog}' may be constituted, which may be the foundation 
for scientific researches upon the origin of human races, upon 
their number and distribution, upon their crossings, and, finally, 
upon the possible solution of the problems of the unity or plur- 
ality of the species. 



r 



Smithsonian Institution. 

Washington City, November, 1894. 

This work. "The Varieties of the Human Species," by- 
Giuseppe Sergi, forms part of Volume 38, Smithsonian Miscellaneous 
Collections ; other parts of the volume are in preparation. 



LIBRARY CATALOGUE SLIPS. 



Smithsonian Institution. 

The varieties of the human species. Principles 
and method of classification. B}- Giuseppe Sergi, 
Washington, published by the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution, 1894. 8°. 61 pp. 

From : Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 38. 
{No. 969.) 



Sergi, (Giuseppe). 

The varieties of the human species. Principles 
and method of classification. By Giuseppe Sergi. 
Washington, published by the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution, 1894. 8°. 61 pp. 

From: Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 38. 
(No. 969.) 



The varieties of the human species. Principles 
and method of classification. By Giuseppe Sergi. 
Washington, published by the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution, 1894. 8°. 61 pp. 

From: Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 38. 
(No. 969.) 



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